The Music Book Podcast

Latest Episodes:

019 Marc Masters on Cassette Tapes (w/guest host Jesse Jarnow) Oct 10, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, our host Marc Masters is the subject, talking about his new book "High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape," released in October of 2023. It’s a technical and cultural history of the cassette tape format, charting the many ways that cassettes changed the course of music and brought new possibilities and new kinds of freedom to creators and listeners–tape artists, bootleg traders, mixtape makers, international tape hunters, current tape labels, and more.
To talk about how he put the book together, Marc invited writer Jesse Jarnow to be this episode's guest interviewer. Jesse is the author of great histories of Yo La Tengo (“Big Day Coming”), The Weavers (“Wasn’t That A Time"), and a “Biography of Psychedelic America” called "Heads," and he's currently working on a book that includes an exploration of the cassette tape as well.
Jesse is also the co-host of the Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast, which you can find here: https://www.dead.net/deadcast

We hope you enjoy Marc's talk with Jesse!
To order a copy of "High Bias" direct from Marc, as well as a companion tape of music from labels featured in the book, go to highbiasbook.bandcamp.com. Thanks!

018 Lior Phillips on South African Pop Music Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks with Lior Phillips, author of “South African Popular Music,” released in May of 2023. It's one of the first installments in 33.3's “Genre" series–an extensively researched, information packed narrative covering many different styles of South African music, from stars like Miriam Makeba and Johnny Clegg, to artists little known outside of the country.
As Lior writes, “My greatest hope is that by diving deep into the popular music of South Africa, the ways in which African music inspires nearly all of modern music, and the astounding history of the apartheid era, this book may help elucidate those concentric circle of art and politics, grief and rejoicing, that permeate the world at large.”

We hope you enjoy Marc's talk with Lior!
And if you're interested in Marc's forthcoming book "High Bias: The Distorted History of The Cassette Tape," out October 3 on UNC Press, check out highbiasbook.com and highbiasbook.bandcamp.com. Thanks!

017 Jeff Schwartz on Free Jazz Sep 12, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks to Jeff Schwartz, author of “Free Jazz,” published in April of 2023. It’s a smart survey of free jazz that’s structured not around individual artists but more around aspects of free jazz, with chapter titles such as "Energy", "Spirituality", and "Self-Determination."

As Jeff writes, “Few pieces or artists will fall neatly into one chapter…There is no discography or recommended listening list at the end of this book. The goal is to suggest things to listen for rather than what to listen to.”
We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Jeff!

016 John Szwed on Harry Smith Aug 29, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks with John Szwed, author of “Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith,” published in August of 2023. It’s a fascinating and superbly skillful portrait of a man who played so many roles: anthropologist, archivist, musicologist, filmmaker, painter. He's best known for his massively influential Anthology of American Folk Music, but he did so much more.Szwed takes a figure who is so hard to pin down and crafts a real story without losing all the mystery of his life and work.

As John writes in his introduction,“How are we to understand the paradox of an artist whose life was almost completely outside the public’s view, always on the edge of calamity–if not death–and yet so influential in so many ways?”

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with John Szwed!

015 Clifford Allen on Matthew Shipp Aug 15, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks to Clifford Allen, author of “Singularity Codex: Matthew Shipp on Rogue Art,” published in August of 2023. It focuses on the 25 releases pianist Matthew Shipp has been involved in for the Rogue Art label, while also functioning as a biography of Shipp as well as a history of the free jazz scene he’s been involved in in New York since the late 1980s.
As Clifford explains in his introduction, “[this book]’s purpose is to take a 25-disc slice of Shipp’s universe as a microcosm of the larger world of creative music and explore the mutable interactions between history, current practices, and ideas through the lens of on pianist, his various playing partners, and others who have helped realize this work.”
We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Clifford!

014 Audrey Golden on Women at Factory Records Aug 01, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks to Audrey Golden, author of “I Thought I Heard You Speak: Woman At Factory Records,” published in June of 2023. It’s a fascinating oral history of the legendary UK record label told exclusively by women involved in at all levels. Golden talked to nearly 100 individuals for her book, from people who ran the office, to people who managed the bands, to people who promoted the music, to people who worked at the label’s nightclub, the Hacienda, and so much more.
As she writes in her introduction, “I set out to do two things: to create an innovative historical record of Factory and its cultural influences, and to collate an archive of women’s experiential knowledge in all its vast, varied, and anecdotal complexity.”
We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Audrey!

013 Eric Harvey on Rap and Reality Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks to Eric Harvey, author of “ Who Got the Camera? A History of Rap and Reality,” published in October of 2021. It’s a fascinating investigation into how rap music in the 80s and 90s intersected with the rise of reality TV and tabloid news - as Eric once put it, “(when) the news was getting more entertaining…and rap was becoming more informational.”

Eric covers so much ground in this book, dissecting some of the best and most important hip-hop of the time while connecting it to so much that was going on politically and culturally throughout those years.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Eric!

012 Kerry O'Brien and Will Robin on Minimalism Jul 03, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks to Kerry O'Brien and Will Robin, co-editors of “On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement,” published in April of 2023. It's an anthology of writings on the modern musical style known as minimalism, presenting essays, interviews, reviews, and more. There are over 100 documents included in “On Minimalism,” organized chronologically but also grouped under themes such as “Dream Music,” “Altered States,” and “Gurus and Teachers.”

As Kerry and Will write in the book’s introduction, “It’s a retelling of the history of musical minimalism - a revisionist history…Who was there? What did it sound like? How was it described? And what is missing from how it was remembered?”
We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Kerry and Will!

011 Steve Turner on Mudhoney and Grunge Jun 20, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks to Steve Turner, author of “Mud Ride: A Messy Trip through the Grunge Explosion,” published in June of 2023. Steve is a founding member of Mudhoney, the great Seattle band who helped explode Sub Pop and Grunge with their first single “Touch Me I’m Sick. “Mud Ride” is a memoir of Steve’s own life in music, but also of the Seattle scene in the 90s and beyond, including the moment where Steve was asked to join Nirvana but turned them down because he thought they were already great as a trio.

In his introduction, Steve writes, “What I have to offer is an insider’s insight into a time that went from homespun fun to international acclaim in a handful of years. It still seems unreal to me, because it was so unexpected.”
We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Steve!

010 Bill Perrine on San Diego Experimental Music Jun 06, 2023

Show notes

On this episode, Marc talks with Bill Perrine, author of “Alien Territory: Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music in 1970s San Diego,” published in May of 2023. It’s a fascinating look at so much varied experimental music, much of it centered around the University of California at San Diego, whose archives Bill was able to comb through for unheard gems. Bill highlights familiar figures such as Harry Partch, Pauline Oliveros, and Diamanda Galas, but also lesser known characters like Jim French, Warren Burt, Arthur Frick, and tons more.

In his introduction, Bill writes, “I take it as a given that the music is not, and should not be, the sole providence of academics, specialists, or art snobs. It is made by professors at universities as well as punks in trailer parks.”
We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Bill!

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